Shwachman–Diamond syndrome: a hematologist's view

Abstract

Shwachman–Diamond syndrome is a rare genetic disorder with an autosomal recessive inheritance pattern. Most often (in more than 90% of cases) this disease is caused by biallelic pathogenic variants in the highly conserved SBDS gene located on the long arm of chromosome 7. However, approximately 10% of patients with the clinical phenotype of Shwachman–Diamond syndrome lack mutations in SBDS but have pathogenic variants in other genes, such as DNAJC21 or EFL1. Shwachman–Diamond syndrome is a multisystemic disorder characterized by exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, protein-energy undernutrition, delayed physical development, cognitive disorders, anomalies of the skeletal system, and immunological disorders. In addition to the described symptoms, Shwachman–Diamond syndrome is characterized by the presence of bone marrow failure (most often neutropenia and anemia), as well as an increased risk of cytogenetic abnormalities and a predisposition to myelodysplastic syndromes and acute myeloid leukemia. In this review, the authors summarize the spectrum of hematological disorders observed in Shwachman–Diamond syndrome, as well as describe the molecular mechanisms underlying them.